


beginnings only last for a night

by cosetties



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alcohol, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, Fluff, Holidays, M/M, Mistletoe, Spin the Bottle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 02:18:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1101214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosetties/pseuds/cosetties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Jason kisses Nico on Christmas Day and one time he breaks the cycle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	beginnings only last for a night

**Author's Note:**

> im so tired
> 
> beta cred to [billyxkaplan](http://billyxkaplan.tumblr.com), [jinglebound](http://jinglebound.tumblr.com), and [morelikeperpetually](http://morelikeperpetually.tumblr.com)
> 
> THANK YOU ALL

Nico should have seen it coming. Between the (spiked) punch and the (all too pervasive) mistletoe, the holiday party was a trap for Nico’s poor little soul. Few of the campers were actually religious, but Percy had insisted on Christmas’s importance as an American tradition. They weren’t going to pass up an opportunity to stuff themselves with food, and _goddammit Nico, sometimes I feel like you’re not a teenage boy at all._ Mistletoe hung in strategic nooks and crannies of the Big House room, courtesy of the Aphrodite cabin. Its campers didn’t seem to understand the meaning of moderation.

Nico shouldn’t have come. Decided against in originally, in fact. Annabeth had bought him a laptop for his birthday and hoped that he’d use it for something productive, but he’d found gay porn, and that had been the end of that train of thought. The Internet was a wonderful place, and he planned to take advantage of all its dark corners. He could be Googling huge cocks right now instead of wasting his time socializing with people he barely even tolerated.

The decorations had been thrown together at the last minute, and the tree—plastic, wouldn’t want to accidentally cut down a nymph, would we?—still stood slightly askew in the corner. Someone had stuck a star on top of it, but decoration didn’t redeem it much, not that Nico actually looked long enough to judge. The fairy lights wrapped around the tree’s middle would probably blind him.

Because he seemed to have radar for pain, he found his gaze fixed to Percy and Annabeth canoodling over the punch, and shit, wasn’t that just the goddamn icing on the cake. Ever since Percy had managed to pull another “save the world” solution out of his ass at the last minute, they’d been getting more serious than ever. Nico had never claimed to be a math genius, but even he could figure out that his happiness was indirectly proportional to the number of Percy and Annabeth’s makeout sessions.

Nico stole off into a corner, and was disgusted with himself. He’d decided that he was over Percy long ago, but his heart had yet to catch up with his brain. Nico liked what wasn’t good for him.

“Nico?” Jason poked his head out from the doorway with his blond hair mussed. Nico noted, with a kind of vague interest he reserved for other people’s love lives, that he’d been holed up in a bedroom. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the party?”

“Aren’t you? You’re kind of both camps’ golden boy now.”

Jason chuckled. “Look at you, getting snarkier by the day. Have you forgotten that we’re friends now?”

“Hey, you made me say that under pain of death. I don’t think it counts.”

Rolling his eyes, Jason said, “I wasn’t actually going to drop you.”

“Didn’t look like it from where I was floating 1,000 feet off the ground.”

In spite of himself, Nico felt a smile tug at his lips. He’d forgotten how Jason could get in moments like this when he took a break from saving the world and had enough time to act like an actual human being. He didn’t seem it at first glance, but, as Nico had discovered after months of Jason forcing his friendship on Nico, the guy was a dork at heart. True to form, he wore a reindeer sweater, complete with plushy, red nose. Nico’s hand twitched, eager to squeeze.

Jason’s hand reached out to snake around Nico’s thin wrist, and, when Nico looked back up at him, Jason raised his eyes to the top of the doorway. Nico followed his gaze.

“Mistletoe,” Jason whispered, before swooping down to give Nico the best kiss of his life.

It was, as High School Musical put it so eloquently, the start of something new.

* * *

He’d hardly seen Jason all year, busy as he’d been with avoiding anyone who could come to care for him. Nico had issues, no lie, but it was okay because he could admit it to himself. Acceptance was the first step to solving any problem, after all, even if he seemed to be arrested at that stage. They’d hardly had a chance to speak, so Nico couldn’t pry Jason with his most pressing questions. Why did you kiss me? Did you break up with Piper because of me? When did you get disgustingly attractive, and how come I never noticed your arms before?

He had probably read too much into it anyway. Jason had been drunk, and there was mistletoe. Even heroic former praetors were allowed their little flights of fancy, even if said little flights of fancy came in the form of an angsty teenage boy with daddy issues and too many complications. If he were Jason, he wouldn’t want anything past a drunken kiss with himself either.

The sound of the blaring speakers met his ears even before he reached Percy’s new apartment. Some 90’s boy band Nico couldn’t remember the name of. It was catchy though, and if he danced to the beat a little, no one had to know.

It only took four minutes for Percy to revert back to his 12-year-old self. “Spin the bottle! Let’s play spin the bottle!”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. “Just because you’re permanently stuck in middle school doesn’t mean the rest of us are.”

Percy slung an arm around her waist, drawing her closer. He planted a wet kiss on her cheek, and Nico knew that was the end of the conversation. Annabeth rarely said no to Percy on the best of days, but, now that there was blatant, drunken adoration in his eyes, Annabeth had been gone before the discussion started. It was strange, Nico thought, but his stomach stayed calm. He could even smile at Annabeth without green edging into his vision.

Joy of joys, when Jason spun the bottle, it landed on Nico.

Percy let out a low chuckle. “Well, this is going to be fun.” Even Piper managed to tear her gaze away from Reyna for a second to watch her ex kiss the awkward loser son of Hades. Nice to know Nico had become a circus act.

Jason, well, Jason didn’t look nearly as annoyed as Nico had expected. He even licked his lips a little before leaning in, and oh.

Nico closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate. Being kissed by Jason Grace, what a fucking nightmare. Seriously, he should get a medal for putting up with Jason’s kisses. He was doing society a favor.

* * *

He’d known this was a bad idea, the moment Jason had called him up to ask Nico would pose as his fake boyfriend for a night. It had seemed like a dangerous proposition then, and now that Nico was seated on Reyna’s couch, beer in hand, it seemed even more ridiculous than before. Nico wasn’t anyone’s loving boyfriend, fake or otherwise. Piper, as a daughter of Aphrodite, should have seen the lie on their faces, but her only comment had been, “Fucking finally.”

Jason beamed. Nico sweated.

Dinner was a stilted affair. If Jason had thought Nico’s presence would make Piper jealous, it didn’t seem to be working out so well. Jason rubbed careful circles with his thumb at the small of Nico's back. It felt entirely too romantic, and when they were out the door, Nico shook a little, to rid himself of the act. Two spots of color danced high on his cheeks. Best not pretend that had been anything more than a carefully constructed lie. It was easy to forget about that, sometimes, especially when Jason looked so earnest and expectant.  

“You okay?” said Jason when they came to a stop in front of the Hades cabin door. Nico felt like a teenage girl on her first date, rushing her goodbyes to get inside before her curfew. Even if Jason was the perfect storybook prince, Nico didn’t have the right amount of demureness and wittiness to make himself a romance novel heroine.

“I don’t think it worked,” Nico said.

“What worked?”

“You making Piper jealous. That is why you invited me, right? Because Piper shacked up with Reyna and you’re still wondering why two girls who used to be in love with you are now screwing like rabbits?”

“Well,” Jason said carefully, “that’s one way you could think about it.”

Then, Jason planted a chaste kiss to Nico’s forehead, soft, not too hard. It filled Nico to the brim, threatening to overflow. He trembled, and Jason must have felt it. He chuckled low in his throat.

Nico had been kissed by other boys before, somewhere between that first Christmas kiss and now. Eighteen and hornier than a rabbit in heat wasn’t a good combination to deal with, and Nico was just over the edge of attractive—pretty enough to pull a good screw when he couldn’t take the loneliness. They left him more alone somehow, taking away a piece of him each time. Their kisses had been slow sometimes. Hard and bruising other times. Sweet, when he found someone who cared whether he was getting off or not. Demanding, when their hot hands and wet lips threatened to overwhelm Nico.

None of them, absolutely none of them, were this innocent. It didn’t feel like a kiss. The too-soft pressure, the slight brush of skin on skin shouldn’t  have been enough to make him feel this way. But feel this way he did.

“Goodnight, Nico di Angelo,” Jason whispered against his forehead.

Before Nico’s brain had caught up, he found himself grabbing wildly at Jason’s elbow. “You could—you could come in? If you don’t want to spend Christmas alone?”

It took Jason a minute. “Yeah, actually. I’ll take you up on that offer.”

They watched Disney Princess movies well into the night, and when Nico sniffled during I Can See the Light, Jason poked him in the shoulder. Nico reciprocated the favor when Jason sang along to A Whole New World, and if they fell asleep curled around each other, no one had to know.

* * *

Considering how much time Nico spent with him, he should have a Jason Grace manual by now. Nico knew how Jason liked his coffee, the way he was prone to singing show tunes in the shower, why he had trouble facing the prospect of leadership. He’d noticed the dimple on his cheek, the flutter of his eyes when he told a lie. He’d mapped out Jason’s face in his mind, could draw it from memory if someone gave him the chance.

But when Jason pressed his lips to Nico for the fourth Christmas in a row, Nico still couldn’t figure him out. Did Jason get some sort of perverse pleasure out of messing around with him? And not even in a way that would get Nico laid, the bastard. Still, he’d been a cynical little shit all his life, but even he couldn’t think badly of Jason. The guy was all propriety and decency wrapped up in blond hunk—speaking objectively, of course—and if he had underhanded reasons for kissing Nico, he couldn’t see them. Nico bet that he’d laid out flowers and played soft classical music for his and Piper’s first time. He was just that kind of guy.

It’d been a long year. More daddy issues. Stepmom issues added to the mix. First real post-Percy crush too, even if the object of his affections hadn’t thought he was worth the trouble. And wasn’t that just the story of Nico’s life?

But, with Jason’s lips pressed against his—a little chapped, but perfect pressure—Nico wasn’t sure his life could be split into pre-Percy and post-Percy. There’d been Jason thrown in, always there, never leaving his side. Not even when Nico hit the lowest of lows and lashed out at anyone who tried to help. Not even when he’d been fourteen and still trying to figure himself out, heart on his sleeve and the world stretched out before him.

He thought, maybe, just maybe, there had never been a post-Jason.

* * *

It was inevitable, really, that Jason and Nico would fall into bed together. Two single men drunk and ready to mingle? Recipe for disaster.

Nico could hear the slur in Jason’s words, the woozy way in which he touched Nico’s arm, when he said, “We should get out of here.”

Nico’s legs almost buckled under Jason’s weight, but he managed to hold the other man up. “We need to work on your pickup lines.”

Jason kissed him, hard and fast. It bruised Nico all the way down to his bones, possessive and raw. Maybe it was childish whim, but Nico had always imagined Jason’s kisses would be something like the pecks he’d given Nico before, a little bit on the hesitant side. But there was nothing of Jason in this kiss, and, when Jason draped himself over Nico on his rickety bed, the only thought floating through Nico’s head was, _I didn’t sign up for this._

Nico had never been able to say no to cute boys. It was a failing of his.

In the after, Jason’s arms fit around him like a vice. Jason looked a little gorgeous like this, even with drool trickling out of his mouth and snoring into Nico’s hair.

Truth always came out at the most inopportune times. He’d fallen in love with the way Jason cared about his friends, the way he’d stand up for them if need be. He loved the way Jason still steered clear of staplers because, you know what, the man couldn’t get over his childhood scars, and that was okay. He loved the way Jason tapped out the beats of Backstreet Boys songs on every flat surface when nervous. He loved how Jason had two laughs—one for politeness and one reserved only for his friends, the kind of laugh that tore out of his throat and filled his entire body, top to bottom. He loved the way Jason looked at him, like he belonged there.

Jason’s breathing blew Nico’s bangs from his forehead, and their breaths mingled when Nico drew close to Jason’s face. His eyelashes fluttered when Nico planted a kiss to his nose. Whoever Jason fell in love with one day was a lucky bastard, but Nico wasn’t selfish enough to think a drunken fumble was anything more than what it looked like.

“Hi,” Jason said, still groggy with sleep. He stretched, fitting his arm around Nico’s waist. Funnily enough, it only caused Nico to shrink into himself. “Give me thirty minutes, and we can go for round two.”

He promptly rolled over and fell asleep.

Nico left Jason sleeping there, somewhere between all-consuming want and rationality.

* * *

In retrospect, Nico probably should have expected Jason to show up. They had mutual friends, after all, and it wasn’t his fault their kind of people was just one big incestuous orgy. Seriously, Nico bet Piper had made out with everyone at least once, and who knew what Annabeth got up to in her free time? New Year’s Eve was a time for new beginnings, but when Nico found himself slammed against the wall, Jason’s body shielding him away from the rest of the party, he was fifteen again, young and stupid and a little bit head over heels.

“You’re a little shit, aren’t you?” Jason said, in a broken sort of voice. “Why have you been ignoring me?”

“I didn’t know if you wanted—“

Jason kissed him, then. Just a kiss, with no misunderstanding between them. It was everything all at once, and when Jason lifted his lips, Nico was embarrassed to say he tried to follow them with his mouth.

“Now, does it seem like I didn’t want it?” Jason said.

“You were _drunk_.”

Jason stroked the hair that tufted up high on Nico’s head. And whose fault was that? If Jason hadn’t been running his hands all over Nico’s hair, he wouldn’t look nearly his debauched. Jason’s touch fell feather-soft. “Drunk on you.”

Nico grabbed Jason’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “We really, really need to work on your pickup lines.”

  
  



End file.
